A sure thing: Betting on the market is risky. Investing in children is wiser than ever

Copyright 2008 Houston Chronicle

Published 6:30 am, Monday, December 29, 2008

From car choices to stock picks, Texas' spending habits are changing. Prudence is trendy, and anyone who can get high returns on an investment looks wise indeed. Maybe this is the year the Legislature will do the math, and vigorously fund proven investments to plug the state's costly "cradle-to-prison pipeline."

The "pipeline" is the name advocates give to the incredibly powerful mix of poverty, poor health, child abuse and festering juvenile justice programs that sweeps thousands of young people into our prison system annually.

Once youths enter the pipeline, the cost to taxpayers shoots higher than most individual incomes.

It costs $67,890, according to the Children's Defense Fund, to incarcerate one child in the Texas Youth Commission. For one year. Now consider that a black male born in 2001 has a one in three chance of ending up in the correctional system. A Hispanic boy born that year has a one in six chance, and an Anglo boy a one in 17 chance.

Public costs for these pipeline travelers extend far beyond one year, of course. Even out of prison, they are more likely to earn less, more likely to rely on benefits, use costly emergency room care and need public housing.

The complexity of this problem might seem overwhelming. But activists and governments around the country have identified many best practices that — as part of a comprehensive child welfare policy — could shut off much of Texas' prison pipeline.

Last March, the CDF's Houston office gathered local community members, child advocates and experts on issues from poverty to mental health to discuss the Texas pipeline — and how to shut it off.

Their research is ongoing: The CDF works as a clearinghouse partnering with state-level expert groups to make recommendations to the Legislature. It is also linked to a local leadership program, the American Leadership Forum, which is weaving together its own upcoming recommendations.

But the participants' overall portfolio of solutions is already evident, the CDF reports.

"More investment in the early years of an at-risk child's life could provide all taxpayers enormous savings," the CDF noted in its recent summary of local efforts, called A Message to the 81st Texas Legislature. (To read the entire document, please go to the Web site at http://www.cdftexas.org/Forum/ Messageto81st_FINAL.pdf.)

The researchers have also identified some superb practices, already proven in other states or in pilot form here in Texas, that specifically attack some of the pipeline's key components: a broken correctional system, emotional neglect and physical abuse.

One of the most exciting is the Missouri Juvenile Justice model. Rejecting the conventional, punitive juvenile justice approach, the state of Missouri offers youngsters counseling, family and community support, and education.

As a result, only one out of 10 released young people return to the prison system. The recidivism rate in the Texas pipeline is 50 percent.

Another program that works: No More Victims, launched at Smiley High School in North Forest ISD eight years ago. Highly at-risk kids — many with incarcerated parents — voluntarily attend a one-hour emotional support and development group each day.

The group's aim is to boost each students' array of emotional resources — most crucially, a caring adult. The result? Out of 41 participants last year, 100 percent graduated, 32 went to college, four went to the military and the rest to vocational school. Zero went into the pipeline.

A third approach worth further investment is the Nurse Family Partnership — a child-wellbeing project that sends nurses to the homes of low-income, first-time mothers from early in their pregnancies through two years after their child's birth.

The results of this approach are remarkable. Intensive studies in other states have linked it to a 48 percent reduction in child abuse and neglect, 59 percent reduction in arrests of the child through age 15, and 90 percent reduction in adjudications as "persons in need of supervision."

To its credit, the Texas Legislature has already made a wise investment in this program. Last session, lawmakers appropriated $7.8 million for nine pilot programs, including one in Houston. This spring it should consider an expansion.

As the economy grows more gaunt, the cost of our cradle-to-prison pipeline grows less justifiable than ever. The Legislature is fortunate that a statewide coalition of advisers stands ready to guide them toward investments that can shut that pipeline down.